In response to fan anger over the ending to Mass Effect 3, Bioware announced a …

Responding directly to some players' anger over the conclusion of the Mass Effect trilogy, Bioware today announced it will release a free "Extended Cut" downloadable content pack this summer. The new DLC will "give fans seeking further clarity to the ending of Mass Effect 3 deeper insights into how their personal journey concludes."

In a statement announcing the DLC pack—available on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3—the company promised "additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes" explaining how the Mass Effect saga wraps up. It's unclear how much, if at all, these additional scenes will alter the perception of established plot elements that have drawn the ire of some fans. But Bioware Co-Founder and General Manager Ray Muzyka says he thinks they "struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team’s artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe.”

Though Bioware has long planned to extend the Mass Effect 3 experience through downloadable content, Executive Producer Casey Hudson said in the statement that the team has "reprioritized" its DLC development efforts towards this Extended Cut. The company did so in order "to provide the fans who want more closure with even more context and clarity to the ending of the game, in a way that will feel more personalized for each player.”

That lack of personalization in the game's ending options was a major complaint of the still-growing group of fans that organized online under the "Retake Mass Effect" banner. Both Hudson and Muzyka responded publicly to those concerns last month, expressing surprise at the response but also respect for the fan investment in the story they created.

As someone who doesn't know anything about what mass effect is or the story involved (I'm an FPS only guy), I went and looked up the endings. Man, they sure are nearly the same. Is the outrage because the endings are pretty much the same or something deeper?

Good to see that they are doing something. It is basically Bioware's last chance to rescue the emotional investment that the fans have shown in the series by putting right the major flaws, but I read this as saying they will stop a long way short by just adding closure cutscenes.

For me, any ending that is really going to set things right should include the following:

1. Removal of the exploding mass relay system, so that the players choices affecting the game universe outside Sol through the preceding game and series stay meaningful2. Reworking the ending to remove plot holes and inconsistencies, and provide a thematically consistent final choice which doesn't involve sweeping space-magic changes to the universe3. Deliver on the promises of a range of endings and allow you to re-take Earth properly, so that it's left as something more than a shattered husk, and your work means you can actually improve your lot and those of your team4. Provide closure for characters and places

There are many smaller issues which they could tackle, but I think most upset fans will agree those are the main areas.

Sadly not doing anything except a bit of the last is going to move a lot of people from the "genuine fan" category to "casual follower", and it's the former who buy Collectors Editions, followed by every DLC and then come back for more in the form of Mass Effect novels.

They have a chance to recover this still, but not taking it and so confirming for the second time that they don't care will hit pretty hard. Ultimately destroying the emotional investment fans have in the franchise is very bad for business.

As someone who doesn't know anything about what mass effect is or the story involved (I'm an FPS only guy), I went and looked up the endings. Man, they sure are nearly the same. Is the outrage because the endings are pretty much the same or something deeper?

I can't say I was angry about the ending. I just found it very disappointing. It started by being very generic (starting with the lift after meeting Anderson on the Citadel), then it started to be incoherent and stupid, instead of being evocative as intended (the Normandy stuff).Looks like there won't be alteration to the story, just additional details to fill the plot holes or to pay fan service, which debunks the speculation about indoctrination.

From what read of this they aren't going to change any of the existing scenes, they are just adding some cinematics that will hopefully explain WTF happened with the Normandy and maybe an Animal house ending for the major characters (that are alive).

As someone who doesn't know anything about what mass effect is or the story involved (I'm an FPS only guy), I went and looked up the endings. Man, they sure are nearly the same. Is the outrage because the endings are pretty much the same or something deeper?

If the ending of a video game gets you near "depressed", then you need to go outside more often.

how many people got upset over the ending of Lost? it doesn't matter if it's a book, videogame, or tv show, anything that takes dozens or hundreds of hours to get through and then has a completely unsatisfying conclusion will piss people off.

I lost faith in Bioware when they gave in to the cries of thousands of basement virgins who moan over a video game ending.

And that accounts for 90% of Ars readers.

If the ending of a video game gets you near "depressed", then you need to go outside more often.

If you can't feel genuinely moved by and invested in a great game franchise then you need to take a good look at your life, because somewhere you've lost something precious.

Taking responsibility for your work and owning up to the occasional mistake, and then setting it straight actually gains you some respect as far as I'm concerned. Bioware are not quite there yet, I see this more as a PR effort disguised as a patch, rather than a genuine create re-assessment of the work.

I personally hope for an even worse ending that comes with the DLC, if only just to read the ensuing storm of comments

I still don't get the big deal over this - I've been really into various series/shows/games before, but never really cared if the ending didn't agree to me. It's the creators/authors work after all, who am I to say that its wrong and must be changed?

I lost faith in Bioware when they gave in to the cries of thousands of basement virgins who moan over a video game ending.

Oh, how cute, he gets off to belittling the 90% of people who disliked the ending. Please, Mr. Superior, tell us all how to live!

Anyway, the ending was all kinds of bad. I suppose it's good that they're trying, but I think they've boxed themselves in on this one regardless. A full ending rewrite creates logistical problems, while adding content will never fix the glaring issues with it (though it may slightly mitigate them, I suppose). I don't expect anyone to declare the ending "fixed" with this DLC, but at least they did something.

As someone who doesn't know anything about what mass effect is or the story involved (I'm an FPS only guy), I went and looked up the endings. Man, they sure are nearly the same. Is the outrage because the endings are pretty much the same or something deeper?

IMHO, 99.9% Paragon actions all the way through from ME1 should have gotten a happier final ending. ALL of my former shipmates (that were at all possible to save) were around for ME3. If you dig around, you find where not being Renegade to one former shipmate ended up with that shipmate's death. It's like Bioware said "Let's show these people that being nice all the time will cost you" or something, and to some people, that struck a nerve...

I lost faith in Bioware when they gave in to the cries of thousands of basement virgins who moan over a video game ending.

Oh, how cute, he gets off to belittling the 90% of people who disliked the ending. Please, Mr. Superior, tell us all how to live!

Anyway, the ending was all kinds of bad. I suppose it's good that they're trying, but I think they've boxed themselves in on this one regardless. A full ending rewrite creates logistical problems, while adding content will never fix the glaring issues with it (though it may slightly mitigate them, I suppose). I don't expect anyone to declare the ending "fixed" with this DLC, but at least they did something.

Or yeah, and you lot can go as low as giving the entire game a negative review on critic sites just because of how the game ended?

The game was beautiful. Everything about it far much more outweighs the supposed "bad ending".The game is a beautiful game. The ending is just a cutscene.

I personally hope for an even worse ending that comes with the DLC, if only just to read the ensuing storm of comments

I still don't get the big deal over this - I've been really into various series/shows/games before, but never really cared if the ending didn't agree to me. It's the creators/authors work after all, who am I to say that its wrong and must be changed?

The ending didn't agree with Bioware themselves. What they promised is nowhere close to what was delivered. We're simply holding them accountable for it, that's all.

I still don't get the big deal over this - I've been really into various series/shows/games before, but never really cared if the ending didn't agree to me. It's the creators/authors work after all, who am I to say that its wrong and must be changed?

It's like being given a puzzle of 10,000 pieces which are all shining and elegant and beautiful, and being told, when you're done it's going to reveal the most beautiful picture which you will be able to hang on your wall and admire for years, and then finding instead as you fit the last piece that it's become a picture of a gigantic steaming turd.

I lost faith in Bioware when they gave in to the cries of thousands of basement virgins who moan over a video game ending.

Oh, how cute, he gets off to belittling the 90% of people who disliked the ending. Please, Mr. Superior, tell us all how to live!

Anyway, the ending was all kinds of bad. I suppose it's good that they're trying, but I think they've boxed themselves in on this one regardless. A full ending rewrite creates logistical problems, while adding content will never fix the glaring issues with it (though it may slightly mitigate them, I suppose). I don't expect anyone to declare the ending "fixed" with this DLC, but at least they did something.

Or yeah, and you lot can go as low as giving the entire game a negative review on critic sites just because of how the game ended?

The game was beautiful. Everything about it far much more outweighs the supposed "bad ending".The game is a beautiful game. The ending is just a cutscene.

Pathetic.

There's a rather vulgar and unpublishable joke about a bridgebuilder that is very apt for this situation.

I lost faith in Bioware when they gave in to the cries of thousands of basement virgins who moan over a video game ending.

And that accounts for 90% of Ars readers.

If the ending of a video game gets you near "depressed", then you need to go outside more often.

I believe you have a misconception on why the ending was so bad. It wasn't because people got depressed, actually its nowhere near that fact. It's actually a list of problems ranging from logical inconsistencies like your team escaping from a blast when they were right next to you at the end. Also from the fact that anything you did with the first three games actually has nothing to do with the endings and didn't even matter what choices you made. Also with the fact that the mass relays you destroyed meant you probably destroyed all the planets near them and everyone who fought with you are either dead or stuck on your planet for whatever that accomplishes.

Though then again I don't care if they do remake the ending it won't replace the disappointment in the job they did. Also how does going outside more often make a difference, if a video game, book, song, or any scenario in life ends shitty you will feel upset about it.

The author and just about every journalist says the same thing "some fans." do you people even bother reading forums? watch youtube? visit facebook? bioware's own social website/forums? do you all live in a cave? it's not just a FEW or "some" hell it's more like a 10:1 ratio!! it is not just a select few fans. I myself invested quite a few hours in the trilogy over the last few years and the final 5 minutes of the game was horrible!! What a piss poor let down. Glad to see Bioware stepping up and trying to make it right by the fans and the very source of their income.

Does this include the removal/tweaking of the forced multiplayer requirement? If not, then I will not bother.

This whole mess has really tainted my experience with the game, so much that I haven't even bothered playing it in the last couple of weeks. Way to destroy a good thing. I'm still inclined to put a slightly larger percentage of the blame for this mess onto the EA side, although Bioware certainly have their fair share too.

The complaints about the ending are vastly overblown. Was the ending great? No. Was the ending okay? Yeah, sure. I think the problem is that the Mass Effect games previously had cool endings, and the game itself was nearly-perfectly executed IMO (a little heavy on cutscenes, but even the cutscenes were cool. Reminded me of quality Battlestar Galactica CG) so the contrast of a very average ending after an astoundingly good series of games adds to the effect I think.

It's the creators/authors work after all, who am I to say that its wrong and must be changed?

The ending didn't piss me off as much as it did others, but it was definitely lazy. Stupid and lazy.

But, in response to the quote above, I feel that, since it's a business, they can't use the shield of "art".

You write a book that you want to get published? It gets reviewed and edited to all hell before it goes to print. You make a movie that you want to get screened? Same thing.

Bottom line is that if your superiors, the folks paying your salary, think your artistic "vision" needs changes, you dust your ego off and make those changes, unless you want to be out of a job.

What crap. The sales of ME3, the reviews, and the DLC sales all point to a game which is exceptionally good. So a minority of people didn't like the ending (and let's be clear, only a minority are the ones working themselves up so much they need their inhalers). Trying to say that BW failed in their business of making a great game is tripe.

Oh - and you don't think that the ending got 'reviewed and edited'. Then you don't understand how games get made.

Does this include the removal/tweaking of the forced multiplayer requirement? If not, then I will not bother.

This whole mess has really tainted my experience with the game, so much that I haven't even bothered playing it in the last couple of weeks. Way to destroy a good thing. I'm still inclined to put a slightly larger percentage of the blame for this mess onto the EA side, although Bioware certainly have their fair share too.

I don't want to spoil it, but lets just say part of the reason why people are mad about the ending is because all of that galactic readiness grinding made no difference. You can skip it without missing out on anything

Does this include the removal/tweaking of the forced multiplayer requirement? If not, then I will not bother.

This whole mess has really tainted my experience with the game, so much that I haven't even bothered playing it in the last couple of weeks. Way to destroy a good thing. I'm still inclined to put a slightly larger percentage of the blame for this mess onto the EA side, although Bioware certainly have their fair share too.

You. Don't. Have. To. Play. MP.

You don't. Nope. Not at all. You can get the perfect ending just through play. If you miss a few %, then there are other options available to you to make them up, but they definitely aren't 'forced' - so please stop regurgetating disproven 'facts'.

The complaints about the ending are vastly overblown. Was the ending great? No. Was the ending okay? Yeah, sure. I think the problem is that the Mass Effect games previously had cool endings, and the game itself was nearly-perfectly executed IMO (a little heavy on cutscenes, but even the cutscenes were cool. Reminded me of quality Battlestar Galactica CG) so the contrast of a very average ending after an astoundingly good series of games adds to the effect I think.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.